String Quartet
The case of the unanswered wire
(2004)
| The case of the unanswered wire was inspired by The Donkey's Ears, a verse novel by the Scottish poet, Douglas Dunn, in which he describes the life of a Russian engineer on board ship at the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. The work of the engineer is necessarily meticulous and repetitive (as well as dangerous) and to preserve the other side of his life he writes tender poetic letters to his wife, to be sent by telegram.
In this quartet I have thought of the pulsation of those communicating wires, conveyors of fact, terror and joy, but also, bound into this, is an expression of despair at the tyranny of war and its calamitous consequences.
The stoical Russian engineer prepares for battle in the closing lines of The Donkey's Ears, 'well dressed to meet the horrid sea,' and in the final section of the quartet there is a suggestion of Morse code, stuttering into silence. As ships go down communication fails. |
